Fang Xiang

This is both a work of science fiction and an exploration of the meaning of life, love, literature and art. Brainpower is no longer the main ingredient for being human in this far distant future world.  Spirituality, physical balance, and diligence all come together as integrity for Chen Mu, the Card Apprentice.  The cards which Chen Mu masters in his own scrappy way, distill all the powers of the cosmos –  human and nonhuman –  into something that is not a book, not technology, and neither art nor magic, but is these and more.  Learn about these strange cards, which can embody everything you might imagine for the future of technology, but also a future beyond technology which promotes the best, and sometimes the worst, from mankind’s past.

The Card Apprentice

<p>Chen Mu had run into trouble. The mid-grade second level of perceptual sensitivity training was going to be far more difficult than he had imagined. Across seven straight days, except for resting, he had been immersed in it to the point of even dropping the exercise gymnastics. He could already tell those were obviously providing less and less improvement.</p>

<p>He didn't find the training boring, even as tortuous as it always was. It was a lot more interesting than making one-star power cards. When he had been making those, especially at the beginning, the scale of the resistance he would encounter was something hard to believe. He was only 11 at the time, and that card master was someone in dire straits about to starve to death. He only had seven days of study.</p>

A Bold Guess